Punjab govt may restrict attendance at school

Punjab government has decided not to close schools in the province despite the ongoing resurge of Covid-19, but is considering a restriction of 50 per cent attendance on students aged less than 12 and bar on unvaccinated elder children.

Officials said both private and government schools would be told to allow half the students below 12 year of age to attend the classes at a time. A notification in this regard is likely to be issued soon.

However, classes with full attendance will be allowed for students over 12 years of age who have been vaccinated against coronavirus. Unvaccinated students in the age group will be barred from entering the schools.

Meanwhile, the situation in the province remains alarming with more than 1,000 coronavirus patients admitted to hospitals in a day for the first time in around six months.

The provincial school education minister has declared that the government is not considering shutting the educational institutions in view of the prevailing situation with respect to the pandemic.

An interprovincial education ministers' meeting was also held on Monday, in which education ministers of all provinces discussed the coronavirus situation in their jurisdiction.

Parents and teachers had been discussing on social media the possibility of the closure of the schools because of the health risk.

However, Punjab School Education Minister Sardar Murad Raas told reporters that a decision to close the schools had not been taken.

"Almost 100% vaccination of private and public sector teachers has been completed in Punjab and the school education department is grateful to the health department over the speedy vaccination of teachers.

We are not closing the schools due to the good situation but we are thinking about implementing a 50% attendance formula for students below 12 years of age," he said.

He said the classes would continue with full attendance for students above 12 years old. "Our students suffered a lot in last two years due to the closure of schools as a result of coronavirus, so we are not closing the schools now," the minister added.

A senior official of the department said the government would wait for the instructions of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) before implementing the restriction of half attendance for young school students.

"Till the issuance of the notification the schools will remain open with 100% attendance.

We also plan that schools will stop entry of all students aged over 12 years who are not vaccinated against coronavirus," the official said. A notification to implement the decision was also being prepared, he added.

A leader of a teachers union supported the decision not to shut the schools.

"We apperciate the decision of Punjab government of not closing schools and think that this decision is in favour of students. We have to complete academic courses and are struggling hard to streamline affairs of the schools in Punjab," said Kashif Shahzad Chaudhry, former president of Punjab Teachers Union.

He also said that there should be restrictions on eligible students who had not been vaccinated. The move was necessary for the safety of other students, he added. The province saw another day of worsening situation regarding the virus with 1,131 patients taken to hospitals during last 24 hours.

"The number of active cases of the disease in hospitals of Punjab has reached 9,849.The ratio of positive diagnostic tests in the province was recorded at 5.8%, Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Imran Sikandar Baloch said.

He said the situation was most alarming in Lahore, where 853 patients were confirmed to have contracted coronavirus and the test positivity rate was 13% on Monday.

"We are also concerned about the situation in Rawalpindi where 8.8% cases were confirmed and 175 new patients of coronavirus were registered, the official added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2022.